Bengals owner Mike Brown reiterated at last week's NFL Annual Meeting in New Orleans that he doesn't intend to trade Palmer, telling The Enquirer that "I want him back, and I will just leave it at that. I haven't talked to any other team about him, and I have no plans to trade him."

When asked about the quarterback situation the next day, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said he wants to move forward.

"It's going to be important not to spin our wheels worrying about it and being paralyzed by it but to be proactive," Lewis told The Enquirer.

"A lot of things affect people all the time, but the thing about it is there's a great opportunity ahead and we're going to seize the moment," he added. "One guy spoke with the owner of the football team, and he was told where his stand is. Carson knew where things are going to be."

Palmer, the 2002 Heisman Trophy winner at USC, led the Bengals to the playoffs in 2005, breaking the team's streak of 15 years without a winning record. However, he tore up his left knee during a playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Late in the 2005 season, Palmer agreed to rework his contract to give the Bengals more salary-cap flexibility. He had six years added to the deal, which lasts through 2014. At the time, he said he wanted to finish his career in Cincinnati.

Since then, the Bengals have made the playoffs only one more time, losing to the New York Jets during the 2009 season. The offense has been in flux, bouncing from a run-based approach in 2009 to a mix of run-and-pass that didn't work in 2010, leading to coordinator Bob Bratkowski's ouster and Jay Gruden's hiring this offseason.

With Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco as his top targets, Palmer completed 362 of a team-record 586 attempts for 3,970 yards and 26 touchdowns last season. He also matched his career high with 20 interceptions.